Giovanni Cardinal Cheli

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Styles of Giovanni Cardinal Cheli

Reference style	His Eminence
Spoken style	Your Eminence
Informal style	Cardinal
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Giovanni Cardinal Cheli (born October 4, 1918, Turin, Italy) is a cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church and was, along with Achille Silvestrini and Pio Laghi, one of the most prominent Vatican diplomats under Pope John Paul II.

Cheli was educated at the seminary of Asti and soon developed his skills in canon law. At the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome he obtained his doctorate in that subject in 1942 and was ordained on April 21 of that year. Cheli returned to the parish of Asti and became diocesan vice-counselor of the Young Men of Catholic Action, and after pastoral work in Rome, he entered the Vatican diplomatic service in 1952. At first, Cheli had the minor role of attaché of the nunciature in Guatemala, but rose to more important roles in Spain and Italy itself. During this period Cheli continued to do pastoral work in Madrid and later he worked for the Pontifical Council for Public Affairs from 1967 to 1973.

Cheli's place as a major Vatican diplomat, however, was secured only when he became a permanent representative of the Holy See to the United Nations in 1973 and again in 1976. By this time Cheli was known for his knowledge of the problems the Vatican encountered relating to the Communist nations of Eastern Europe, and it was natural that he would soon become a bishop - which he did in 1978, unusually being consecrated during the short reign of Pope John Paul I. His combination of knowledge of the Curia and pastoral-mindedness fitted Cheli perfectly for the role of Prefect of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People, which he held continuously for two decades following the start of John Paul II's reign as Pope.

Cheli was, as a reward for his service as a Vatican diplomat, elevated to cardinal in the consistory of February 24, 1998, but his elevation was almost an anticlimax because within a year he had passed the age limit for voting in a conclave. Indeed, since turning eighty Cheli and Silvestrini have become regarded as the bluntest critics of this rule among over-age cardinals, with Cheli on Silvestrini's eightieth birthday (five years after himself turning eighty) saying to The Observer in December 2003:

"It is a great deprivation for cardinals. Perhaps different limits can be used in future. Perhaps those whose minds have gone should not vote. We all know who they are. And some of them are in their seventies."

In other respects, too, Cheli has become strangely outspoken about Vatican policy for a cardinal appointed by John Paul II. He has been the most vehement critic in the Church of the US invasion of Iraq since 2001, and has more recently voiced his criticism of some of Pope Benedict XVI's appointments within the Roman Curia.